


Freedom at a cost

by Kagehide



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Introverted sole survivor, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 09:45:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5492705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kagehide/pseuds/Kagehide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To her it was like she was in a whole new world.<br/>A world that let her go free, but made her feel oh so fragile.<br/>No Nate telling her what to do, no Shaun who she needed to be a rolemodel for and no responsibilities chaining her down.<br/>She was finaly free.<br/>Free to do what she felt was right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to a new world

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction i've ever wrote so i hope it isnt too boring to read.  
> I made this fanfiction with an introverted sole survivor in mind because everything the sole survivor does in game screams that she has no trouble dealing with people a lot.  
> The first few chapters will be about the sole survivor adapting to the wasteland and meeting some companions.  
> The romance starts after that.  
> English isnt my native language so if I made any mistakes then i'd love to hear them.

Sadie couldn't keep up anymore. The nuclear bomb was the start of her already "not so happy" life spiraling down at a rate that she couldn't follow. Her marriage with Nate started as a happy one but took a bitter turn as the butterflies had left their stomachs. She wanted their relationship to end, but not like this, not with him dying for it to end. And their only reason for staying together got taken away just as fast as the bullet that ended Nate's life. Her banging against the thick glass was futile and ignored as they left with Shaun. And with that last memory of him burned into her, her time stopped again.

The sound of a alarm and a woman's voice repeating the same warning without stop, is what Sadie woke up to. With lungs having trouble functioning after being frozen, and the stinging pain of muscles thawing out, Sadie stumbles out the pod onto the floor. With her whole body protesting, she lifts herself off the floor, rising to see the dead corpse of Nate in the cryosleep pod in front of her.  
"Goodbye, Nate."  
With a cold goodbye and an aching heart (unsure whether it was due to being frozen or something else), Sadie left to chase the duo who took Shaun.

While she had no trouble fighting someone, Sadie found herself terrified to proceed when she saw huge roaches behind glass in the vault. They were unlike any animal she had seen and she was unsure if the security baton would have any effect on those things. So she proceeded, hoping that there was a way to avoid that room.  
"Shit." Sadie hisses out as she spots one of those giant roaches ahead of her.  
She knows that standing from a distance, observing it, wont make it magically disappear. With shaky legs and sweaty palms firmly grasping the baton, Sadie rushes towards the radroach. When the batton hits the monster with full force, it dies with a horrible cracking sound and it lets out one final screech. The small adrenaline rush and the loud thumping of her heart reminded her of everytime she had to kill a spider in her house.  
"They are just like large spiders, Sadie. Scary and icky, and that's why you have to kill them." She breathed out the encouragement to herself as she calmed her breathing.  
Despite the constant chills running down her back, she had regained some confidence and was ready to head forward.

It was as if she went into some alternate reality.The lively sanctuary she knew was devoid of life with human remains scattered here and there. She stood up top of the hill serving as the entrance to the vault, watching, searching, hoping for anything and she wasn't even sure what.  
To her it was like she was in a whole new world.  
A world that let her go free, but made her feel oh so fragile.

\--

She didn't know what she expected to find at home. Not even knowing why she even went home at all. But she was glad she did because she never expected Codsworth to still be up and running around there. While being relieved to find someone who could confirm that this reality really was 'her' reality now, she couldn't help but worry over Codsworth. When she told him of Nate's death and Shaun's kidnapping she noticed that he was acting strange.  
"Hmm... I believe you're suffering from hunger induced paranoia. That's what you get for not eating well for 200 years long." Codsworth says as if hes trying to lighten the mood.  
But it has the opposite effect.  
"What? 200 years?! Are you... Sure?"  
She believed that a nuclear atom bomb could do all this damage so she didn't question why everything was so rusty and in disrepair. But for 200 years to have passed on top of it?  
"A bit over 210 actually, mum."  
It felt like so much to take in. Sadie's mind tried to set everything that happened straight, tried to make sense of everything. Her head swam in the numerous amount of questions that arose.

When Codsworth stopped talking about Sadie missing dinner for 210 years, she felt like she had to push her inner turmoil aside and focus her worries on something else.  
"Codsworth? Are you... alright? You're acting strange."  She asked him softly, hoping that he wont get offended in some way.  
Codsworth was silent for a moment before blurting out his woes.  
"It... It was horrible, mum. 200 years with no one to talk to! I thought you and your family were dead"  
Sadie felt bad for the suffering Codsworth went trough. He may be a man made Mr. Handy and essentially programmed to act that way, but the blubbering mess that Codsworth is right now felt too real. She comforted Codsworth and when he regained his composure, she gained her first clue as to where to start searching for Shaun.  
And so Sadie headed off to Concord.


	2. Grow, change and learn

To think that she would find a dog alive in this barren world, Sadie was overjoyed. She was more a cat person but dogs were fine too since they are great companions. And hey they dont talk your ears off when you dont want to talk unlike some humans. Seeing as how the dog was alone and had no owner, she asked the dog to tag along. As if he completely understood, the dog barked as reply and stuck close to her. Sadie and Dogmeat (that's how she ended up calling the dog) scouted every corner of the red rocket. When they were about to leave, strange sounds approached them from below.  
Giant molerats.  
Sadie yelped out a curse as one jumped at her from below, biting her in her leg. Dogmeat was on top of the mole rat within a second and ripped his head off. Her hands shake slightly when she readies her 10mm pistol at the other alerting sounds digging through the ground. She's not getting out of this without a few bites and scratches that's for sure.

On her way to Concord, Sadie was sore and counting the cuts that stung the most. She had picked up a few stimpacks back in vault 111 but she hadn't used them yet. Needles didn't scare her but the thought of injecting one in herself did make her queasy. The cuts she got in the fight against the mole rats would amount up to a month worth of accidental cuts she used to get 200 years ago. One short sting of a stimpack couldn't hurt that much, she thought to herself. Sadie injected the stimpack as fast as she could so she couldn't get a change of mind and chicken out. It was like a warm comforting breeze on a cold day flew over her whole body. The stinging pain faded away over her whole body and she was ready to continue again.

When she walked down the main street of Concord she heard the sounds of a gunfight get closer and closer. Upon getting a clear view of the fight, she saw that it was one guy on a balcony,  looking incredibly desperate, fighting at least 5 other guys who were spread out on the street. To Sadie it felt like it was an unfair fight, the guy on the balcony needed help. But she hesitated to partake in something so dangerous, heck she didn't even know the story behind their fight so what if she choses the wrong side. Dogmeat whimpered beside her as she was stuck not knowing what to do. She knew that taking too long to decide was going to cost life, wich made her even more panicked to chose. When she saw the guy on the balcony trying that hard to stand his ground, she knew that she had to chose. So she had decided to change out of her passive attitude she had her whole life up to now.  
"Its alright Sadie, its a whole new world different from the one you knew. There's nothing holding you back now."  
No Nate telling her what to do, no Shaun who she needed to be a role model for and no responsibilities chaining her down.  
She was finaly free.  
Free to do what she felt was right.

\--

Helping the guy on the balcony, Preston Garvey was his name, was the right thing to do after all. He was nice to have the patience to explain a few things Sadie had never heard of, like ghouls. Seeing as to how they were in dire need of help, Sadie was more than willing to give them a helping hand. She had some experience in working with terminals but she had never tried hacking them before. Of course she hasn't because 200 years ago it was illegal to do that.  
It took her only two tries and a amount of removed duds to figure out the password. The fusion core was lighter than she expected, almost like a battery but much larger. With the fusion core in its place in the power armor, Sadie entered the large steel armor. Despite only being 1,52 meters tall, the armor didn't feel too large at all. Heck it made her feel taller and she saw things from a viewpoint that some people see daily.  
She hated it that she stopped growing when she was still so short, and she hated it even more that heels were the only option to feel taller.  
Yes it was very stuffy and cramped in the power armor but it felt good to wear.  
Sadie shot a few raiders down from on top of the building with her plasma rifle before jumping down with Dogmeat in her arms.  
She was afraid that Dogmeat was going to jump after her when she jumped and he obviously doesn't have steel armor protecting him. Better to be safe and sure than to have a dead dog splattered on the pavement.

The raiders started to retreat, so Sadie had to chase after them with her new-found shotgun in hand. She took one more step further into the street before she froze to a sewer hatch blowing open not too far in front of her. The raiders stopped attacking Sadie and watched with her in fear how a large clawed hand emerged from the opening in the road.  
"S-Shit! Deathclaw!" Screamed one raider jumping into cover, hiding from the large beast that emerged.  
Sadie had stopped thinking, her whole mind has become paralyzed with fear just like her body. Dogmeat sensed that Sadie was going to be in danger and had jumped in front of her, ready to protect her when the Deathclaw was going to attack them. With a terrifying roar the Deathclaw came charging at Dogmeat and Sadie. Sadie got pulled out of her petrified state when she finally realized just in how much of a dire situation they were. As fast as she could she ran, trying to come up with the most efficient way to survive this and to actually kill that thing.

Lucky for her, the Deathclaw was way too large to chase after her into a house and lucky for her she had saved the minigun for this kind of situation. The Deathclaw lies dead on the ground, filled with bullet holes. She totally has to ask Preston about any other scary mutated monsters like that. When Preston tried to hand Sadie a pouch filled with caps (after telling her that that is the current currency), Sadie hesitated to accept it.  
"I didn't do it for the caps."  
"Nowadays everyone is in it for their own gain. Glad to see that there are still people really willing to do good." Preston sounded impressed and Sadie couldn't help but wonder if kind people like Preston really was rare in this world.  
"Your son is still alive, I can feel his energy." Sadie didn't believe in superstitions, but it was her son that Mama Murphy was talking about.  
She had to believe and hold onto the hope it gave her, how little it might have been. Without that hope she would fall apart and be lost in a world where everything is unknown to her.

Making Sanctuary livable was quite a task but they had managed to make it a good settlement. Preston had made Sadie part of the Minutemen and she was proud to call herself one. When night fell, Sadie had found herself unable to sleep. The silence made her mind wander and it occasionally went to memories of Nate. It eated at her insides how even after his death he continued to plague her. She wanted to scream, yell, break things as loud as she could, anything to make her forget the memories that haunt her. So she got up to wander around in Sanctuary, hoping that doing something other than lying around would help. She scanned through the pip boy, searching for nothing in particular. Her eyes stopped when she saw Nate's holotape for her in her inventory tab. She hadn't listened to it yet, she still doesn't want to. But shes too curious, she knows that that curiosity will be her downfall. So she gave the holotape to Codsworth, told him to hide it somewhere she wont find.   
One day she will come back for it and play it, but that day wont be anytime soon.


End file.
